Is Bush Another LBJ?

[Kevin]

   I'm starting to think Bush is another LBJ. Would anybody mind discussing this with me? 

[MODU]

Make your case.

[dazzleman]

I don't think he's even close.

I hate every casualty, but casualties in this war aren't even close to what they were in Vietnam.  By the time LBJ had been in Vietnam as long as we've been in Iraq, we had about 40,000 casualties, or 20x the casualties of the Iraq war so far.  As I said, I hate every one, but the numbers are simply not comparable.

[Moooooo]

What about spending?

[dazzleman]

What about spending?

Good point.  Spending under Bush is clearly out of control.  It is the worst thing he has done as president, IMO.

Unfortunately, the Democrats are even worse.  I haven't heard any Democrats say what they would cut.

LBJ's worst problem though was not the spending during his term, but the fact that he created a number of misconceived and counterproductive welfare-type programs that exacerbated the problems they were supposed to solve, and saddled us not only with huge financial costs, but also huge social costs, in the ensuing decades.

I don't see Bush's spending really doing this, at least not yet.  I certainly hope he gets it under control.

Nick, do you have any ideas for spending cuts?

[Moooooo]

The 13,000 or so pet projects would be good place to start.

[dazzleman]

The 13,000 or so pet projects would be good place to start.

I'm sure you're right, but can you be more specific?

[Moooooo]

I cant think of any specific programs off the top of my head, but If I were president I would...

*Appoint a bipartisan committee soley responsible for rooting out failing social programs and useless pork projects. 

*Possibly push for congressional term limits so members of congress would be more inclined to focus on passing good legislation rather than feel good legislation that serves only to help their re-election bids.

I have no problem with strong safety nets, but pork barrel spending really gets under my skin.  Whether its Ted Stevens with his bridges to nowhere or Robert Byrd with all of his pet projects.

[True Democrat]

See my post comparing the election trends here:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=35021.msg794816#msg794816

[DanielX]

Maybe a JFK-LBJ hybrid. Cut taxes, got US into wars, big spending, some vague similarities.

[minionofmidas]

No. LBJ was a good man at heart.